


A Favor

by Lxie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Keith ad Lance have a TalkTM, Lance is in trouble, M/M, Spies & Secret Agents, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 05:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15812460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lxie/pseuds/Lxie
Summary: Lance found his target and she was slinking near the shadows toward the exit, red hair flashing.He sprinted forward, dodging upturned tables and shoving past Galra and teammates alike. His one goal too close to escaping after months of research and work.He shot a warning shot just in front of her, metal indenting as the bullet embedded itself in the wall, sparks flying a shade too close to her face. Reeling back she whipped her head towards him, blue eyes wide with alarm before slitting with the smugness of a cat.“Get on the ground!” he shouted, spittle landing on the inside of his visor.She smirked at him, eyes narrowing at him in calculation as she slowly, almost lazily, kneeled on the floor.Not wasting a second Lance moved, grabbing one of her thin wrists and twisting it behind her back, reaching for the other one. “Roze Darnell you have the right to remain silent.”





	A Favor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ciuucalata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciuucalata/gifts).



> this is a commission fic for my friend Ellie who wanted a sequel to a spy au I did here: https://lxiewrites.tumblr.com/post/177439112778/fic-trope-mashup-46-71-klance

Lance breathed out a harsh breath. His bulky gear pressed into the scratchy red brick and his breath fogged against the visor in puffs. Flexing his fingers around the handle of the gun he shook out the cramps tensing his hands.

“Everyone ready?” Shiro’s voice asked over the comms, confident and sure.

A few grunts of confirmations echoed over the lines. “Okay, on the count of three everyone rush in.”’

Lance could hear the soft knocking of the armor of his team behind him, preparing to move in on cue. He held his gun up towards the sky next to his head for safety.

“One.”

He crouched low and widened his stance, ready to rush in.

“Two.”

There was an uncomfortable thrumming in his gut but he ignored it. They have done this too many times to count but he could never fully get rid of the nerves. They didn’t matter. He doesn’t have the luxury to worry.

“Three!”

He kicked down the door. They clanged against the wall as his team moved in. The other entrances of the warehouse filling with the other teams, bulletproof vests with the lettering VLD swarming in to block off the exits.

The VLD officers behind him fanned out shouting instructions at the people in the masks. Everyone was moving, tables turned over and things crashed. The familiar masks on the Galra’s faces were dragged off, leaving them shouting and biting. Glowing vials of both purple and gold liquid was unearthed from the nondescript crates lining the warehouse. Other officers shouting at their find, voices over the comms link calling over superiors and backup alike.

Lance found his target and she was slinking near the shadows toward the exit, red hair flashing.

He sprinted forward, dodging upturned tables and shoving past Galra and teammates alike. His one goal too close to escaping after months of research and work.

He shot a warning shot just in front of her, metal indenting as the bullet embedded itself in the wall, sparks flying a shade too close to her face. Reeling back she whipped her head towards him, blue eyes wide with alarm before slitting with the smugness of a cat.

“Get on the ground!” he shouted, spittle landing on the inside of his visor.

She smirked at him, eyes narrowing at him in calculation as she slowly, almost lazily, kneeled on the floor.

Not wasting a second Lance moved, grabbing one of her thin wrists and twisting it behind her back, reaching for the other one. “Roze Darnell you have the right to remain silent.”

* * *

-

“Lance, calm down,” Shiro ordered, arms crossed as they stared at the woman in custody through the one-way glass.

“I am calm,” Lance grouched and glared harder at her, wishing he had some sort of laser vision. As if she could feel his stare she grinned and waved her hand at the glass. He spun to Shiro, arm flung out to gesture to the woman sitting smugly in the interrogation room.

“Lance, if you’re not going to be able to remain calm about this you’re not going to be allowed to interrogate her,” Shiro stated. He looked at him, eyes serious and mouth pressed in a firm line. “We have a very good chance at getting the majority of the Galra behind bars. We can’t let this opportunity slip through out fingers because you got angry.”

“We got a lot of people in the ambush.” Lance crossed his arms tight around his body. “What makes her so special?”

A hand squeezed his shoulder. He looked to see Shiro smiling but his eyes were hard with determination. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”

-

Lance glared at the red-headed woman, who did not seem deterred in the slightest. She slouched in her chair and her leg was crossed over the other as if she was on vacation instead of an interrogation room. Shiro left a bit ago to give him some privacy and to see if, in her taunting, she would let something slip.

He huffed out a breath and combed his hand through his hair for the umpteenth time. He took the metal chair opposite of her and spun it around, the metal scraping and screeching against the concrete floor, sitting on it backwards, arms dangling over the back.

“Miss Darnell--”

“I’ve told you before!” she interrupted with a smirk, “call me Ezor.”

Lance looked down to get his anger in check. Gritting his teeth before swallowing down the sharp retort on the tip of his tongue. He looked up, question on his lips to see her gleefully smirking at him, a knowing look in her eye. And he knew that she figured out that he was Keith’s handler that night.

“Miss Darnell, reports and eyewitnesses put you at the scene of the crime when Agent Kogane was injured. If you work with us we can negotiate a lighter sentence. It’s your choice but might I say,” he tapped a few times on the table, a dull thud reverberating throughout the room, “it looks like a rock solid case.”

She scrunched her face in a way that was supposed to be endearing but only made him want to throttle her. “I don’t know… “ her eyes widened with fake realization, “how is the boyfriend?”

Lance pressed into a hard line. He’s not my boyfriend, he thought, something hot and ugly bubbling in the pit of his stomach. There were many things he could respond with but he settled for, “Alive.”

“Ooohh,” Ezor leaned her elbows on the table, chin propped up on her fists. “So there is something. Here I was guessing.” She tilted her head in mock sympathy but her smile was a knife. “That must have been so difficult for you to see.”

“What? When you poisoned him or when you dumped his body in the alley,” he snapped.

She laughed, loud and cruel. “I was just doing my job, buddy. You two almost made it too easy.”

Lance hummed in the back of his throat. “So you admit that you attempted murder against him because you were hired to do so.”

Her blue eyes went wide, genuine for once. “Wait--!”

He slapped the table, the sound jolting her as he got up. He smiled at her, making sure it was as patronizing as possible. Her hands curled up into fists as she shot daggers at him.

He snapped one hand and fired a fingergun in her direction. “Pleasure doing business with you Ezor. It’s been… fun.”

And with that one last jab, he exited the room smug and triumphant. He turned to see Shiro approaching him, phone in hand. Opening his mouth to tell him that he got what they needed he snapped shut at the grim look on Shiro’s face.

“Lance, we need to talk.”

-

“What were you thinking?!”

Lance scowled as Shiro paced the floor in front of him. Next to him bounced his concerned gaze between Shiro and Lance while Pidge watched on next to him, hands fidgeting with her phone.

“Yeah, buddy there could’ve a better way of getting the sample. You didn’t even have backup!”

Pidge didn’t say anything, only biting her lip as she watched the drama unfold before her. Probably to not incriminate herself. She had some idea of his levels of stupidity.

Through gritted teeth, Lance ground out, “Keith was dying it’s not as if we had the time. I got it anyway!”

Shiro leveled him with a glare before walking to stand in front of where he was sitting. “Lance,” he started, “you did get it in time, but look at where we are now. Ezor happens to be high up in the Galra empire, at least higher than some of the other guys we picked up. We have her admission, she can be put away for years, but because of your actions we’re being blackmailed into letting her go.”

“Can’t we just...not?” Pidge asked from her position on the couch. “Who says we have to let her go?”

Shiro turned to her, blessedly taking the attention off of Lance. “For one, Lance gave her his word.”

She rose a brow. “Yeah? And?”

“And she has the footage of him in the building and could tell them he stole the quintessence. She could either tell her superiors or leak it to the media.” Shiro turned his head to look back at him, dark eyes disappointed but past that was fear. “She could put a target on his back.”

-

After that bombshell the rest of the team tried to put together a plan. He asked if Pidge could work her magic to get it erased but--

“I can’t get in. The Galra’s information system is based on samples of DNA. Everyone who’s connected to them has a sample of DNA stored within their system and only has access to their individual server. Unless they’re the higher-ups like Haggar or Zarkon they only have access to their own server.” Pidge rubbed the bridge of her nose, pushing her glasses up her forehead. “If we took Ezor’s we’d just get what she has on her server not Axca’s.”

After that everyone was stressed and tired. The others left to gather intel or to just take a break before they decided what the were going to do. Either let one of the biggest leads go or Lance gets decades in witness protection program.

Lance sighed and massaged his temples, headache forming. In hindsight, it made sense she had some sort of blackmail on him. He didn’t even question it at the time. Just assumed she would take him at his good word. God, is he stupid.

The door slammed open, jolting him out of his thoughts. Keith marched in, eyes blazing and narrowed in on him. “Lance,” Keith barked, slamming the door behind him. “You have some explaining to do.”

He tried to twist his mouth in a semblance of a smile, hand rubbing the back of his head. “O-oh? About what?”

“You damn well know what!”

“Well, it sounds like you don’t need an explanation then!”

“Lance,” Keith sighed, pinching the skin between his brows. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking you were going to die,” Lance said staring over Keith’s shoulder. Maybe if he was fast enough he could get out the door.

“You are… so stupid.” Keith rubbed at his eyes before pinning him with a glare. “Why would you even do that? With enough expediting, a plan could’ve been made without you putting yourself in danger or making a deal with the enemy. “

Lance looked at him like he was crazy. Which. He was. If he couldn’t see why he did what he did. “Keith. I don’t know how to make it any more clear than I possibly can than I thought you were going to die. Sure, I could have waited but I didn’t want to take the risk.” His mouth flopped open and closed for a bit, trying to find the words. More of an explanation. He shook his head. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Keith pressed his mouth shut. Eyes full of questions searching his for the answers.

He couldn’t stand the silence any longer. The scrutiny of his gaze. He was going to say something stupid at this point. “Besides,” he looked away, “if I didn’t make a deal with her it would have been someone. And she would have had blackmail on me regardless.”

Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath like he was praying to a higher power for strength. “That is not the point here.”

Lance’s eyes darted to the door again. Narrowing his eyes Keith stepped a little to the right, more effectively blocking his only route of escape. Lanced huffed, throwing his arms out in a gesture that said ‘well?!’. “Then what is the point, Keith? I screwed up again?”

“It’s that you basically traded my life for yours!” Keith stomped into his personal space, all indignant rage and a weaponized attack. Eyes throwing daggers and lips spitting bullets. “Yes, we might do this trade but how will we know that the footage is erased? They can hold this above your head for years. You’ll always have a target on your back. Just--” Keith’s hands clenched in the air before stabbing Lance in the chest with a very pointy finger.

“I’m not good with words but I care about you, asshole. What happens in the next forty-eight hours could determine your life.”

“Keith,” Lance sighed, bringing his hands to cup his face, stroking his cheek with his thumb. His chest throbbed from where Keith stabbed at him with his finger, matching the pulse of his heart. It hurt a bit, but he probably deserved it. What was going to happen was up in the air. No one knew how the chips would land. If they decide to not take the deal he could very well spend the rest of his life in witness protection or until Galra Inc is disintegrated.

There was a possibility of spending the rest of his life without his friends. Without his family. Without Keith.

It would be selfish to factor Keith in all of this. Like he already owned a part of his heart. That whatever he said would determine the outcome. The Galra should be taken down first. He shouldn’t be thinking about how dull his life would be without him in it. They’re not even together.

There was a...moment between them at the hospital a few months ago. Nothing happened. Some weird cocktail of gratitude, relief, and adrenaline. After Keith was discharged it was like that little moment was left behind in room 21A. Things went back to normal, almost too easily. They fell back into that pattern of teasing and banter except there were more stolen glances and Lance probably brushed against him more than necessary.

It’s unfair to Keith. Lance should stay far, far away from him with might happen. It’s selfish, selfish, selfish.

Was being selfish such a bad thing?

Gliding his hand to Keith’s jaw he tilted his head up. Looking into his eyes until they were the only thing he could see. His eyelids drooped as he drew him closer, feeling his breath fan across his lips hot and sweet. “Keith,” he breathed.

The door they forgot about swung open. Slowly, they dropped their hands and took a few steps back, putting space between them. Shiro looked at them, mouth pressed in a line. “Come on. Let’s get started.”

-

“So, have you guys finally decided to be smart and let me go?” Ezor was lounging on her back in one of their containment rooms. Handcuffed hands cushioned her head and her foot bounced idly in the air, the picture of complacency. She turned her head, smirking slightly but Lance could see that her eyes had a hard edge. Flinty and shrewd. Scared.

He glared at her. “We’re leaving. Get up, we have somewhere to be.”

Her eyes widened and her brows shot up her forehead. Swinging her legs over the side of the bench she braced her hands on her knees. “Wait. Really?” She stood up. “Are you kidding me?”

He rolled his eyes, gesturing for her to exit. “Are you gonna take all day? I can always leave you here.”

“No, no,” She stood up and rushed towards the door. “No need.”

Grumbling, he locked the door behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her down the hallways.

They walked in relative silence, the only sounds breaking up the monotony were their footsteps and the faint buzzing of the fluorescent lights above their heads. At least until she broke the silence. “Soooooo, can I know where we’re going?”

“No.”

“Can I ask why I’m being moved?”

“Your girlfriend.”

Her steps faltered. “Axca? Really?”

He looked at her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was upturned in a soft, surprised smile. He pursed his mouth into a line. He refused to think about how Axca is rescuing Ezor like he did with Keith. And how apparently how touched Ezor is by it. No. He’s the tough, hard as nails, sharpshooter of the group. And she almost killed his—Keith. She almost killed Keith.

He gave a push to her shoulder, moving them along. “I still don’t like you.”

“Oh yeah. I wouldn’t expect you to.” She shrugged, hands moving up and away as far the handcuffs would allow, the chain rattling. “It’s a job.”

“Why? Why would you kill people for a living?”

“I don’t know, why do you?” she shot back. When he didn’t answer she continued, “I don’t need to explain myself to you. It’s a job. I do it and I do it well. It might not be wrapped up in a nice bow like yours but it’s mine.”

She looked at him, eyes once again cutting, mouth like a shark’s. “What? Nothing to say, copper?”

He didn’t look at her. Only muttering, “Come on,” when they arrived at the exit. He pushed open the door in front of them and led her into the waiting van. His entire team was waiting in the van for them. Pidge moved over, making room for their guest as he took a seat next to Hunk.

“You okay, buddy?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Hunk,” he said making eye contact with Ezor. “Just fine.”

-

They arrived at the negotiated destination with little fanfare, the streets dark and deserted. They all filed out of the van, Lance holding onto Ezor. The streetlamps flickered, barely illuminating the abandoned lot they decided on as neutral territory.

Seemingly from the shadows, Axca appeared with something clutched in her hand.

“Where’s Ezor,” she called.

Lance shook her from where he stood. “She’s right here, she’s fine, just a pain in the ass.”

The shadows obscured her face, making it unreadable. She waved the thing in her hand, the blinking green light leaving streaks in the air. “This is a device that’s connected to the video. It’s set to automatically release to the head of the Galra and the public unless I press this button. I’m sure the public would appreciate knowing that the person that’s supposed to protect them makes a deal for his own selfish gain,” she added meaningfully.

“Yeah, we get it!” Pidge shouted. “You’re a big bad who has some tech knowledge. How are we to trust you delete that footage after the trade?”

“I guess you’ll just have to trust me.”

“No,” Shiro said stepping forward. “That’s not good enough. We need to know that it will be deleted.”

She held up the device. “On here, there’s a command button to delete all the footage from my database as well as the Galra’s.”

“Again,” Shiro bit out, “how can we trust you?”

“If I had access to the Galra database I could make sure all footage is erased,” Pidge said, not taking her eyes off of Axca.

Ezor scoffed, ignoring how Lance’s grip tightened on her wrists. “You expect either one of us to give you the information to the database? Do you think we’re that stupid? They would find out it was us and, trust me, what they would do would be a lot worse than what you would do to us.”

“Well, it sounds as if you’d rather stay here with us then,” Lance sassed offhandedly. “Prefer us versus the Galra?”

She shrugged, teeth gleaming in the dim light. “I don’t know, you guys hiring?”

“Yeaaahh, no.”

Keith stepped forward, eyes narrowed and brows pinched together. “This is getting us nowhere.” He cupped his hands around his mouth to yell, “If you give us the device and your information to the database then we’ll release your girlfriend.”

Hunk, who has been silent up until now, muttered, “oh my God.” He looked to everyone else. “Guys. Just-- oh my God.”

He strode forward next to Pidge and  called out, to everyone’s surprise, “If you were given a choice, would you leave the Galra?”

It stunned everyone to silence. Lance felt his face scrunch up in confusion. “Hunk, buddy--”

Hunk cut him off, turning to Ezor and repeated the same question.

“Uh, it depends. I got a pretty good gig right now.”

“Constantly on edge of being killed or going to jail, killing people?” Hunk questioned.

“Well, no job is perfect.”

“ We can help you, both of you,” he said turning to Axca, who’s impassive mask has been broken, confusion coloring her face. “If you make sure that the footage is not sent out we can erase any of your affiliations with the Galra and put them behind bars.” He wrapped his arm around Pidge’s shoulders, dwarfing her, and squeezing. “We got pretty good tech support.”

“Hunk,” Pidge wormed her way out of his grasp, looking at him like he was crazy, “we can’t do that. Any chance of us getting that much access to the server is zero unless you have Zarkon stashed in your basement.”

“I know where we can get the next best thing,” Hunk said, smile as big and bright as the sun.

Just like that it came to him.

“Lotor.”

“What?” Shiro asked, looking at the both of them. Keith right next to him brows furrowed in less anger and more ‘what the fuck?’.

Pidge, though, Pidge was thinking. “I can’t believe I’ve never thought of that.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Keith asked.

Lance answered, mind going a million miles. “Allura’s been, ah, doing the horizontal tango with Lotor.--”

“Forchristsake just say sex like a normal adult,” Pidge complained.

He continued like she didn’t exist. “ She’s got his DNA, for obvious reasons. Or at least could get it.” He looked at the others. “We can get access to the entire server.”

Shiro’s eyes lit up and his grin spanned his entire face. “So, what will it be Axca? Stop the video now and disappear from the Galra or be caught later?”

She walked towards them, the light finally illuminating her face. Eyes determined and resolute. She looked at Ezor who merely shrugged, leaving the decision to her. Her eyes swept over them and she held up her device and pressed a button, the blinking light at the top stopped and went dark. “Deal.”

-

They broke up into teams. Pidge and Shiro went over to Allura’s to see if Lotor left any hair or other DNA samples at her place. Hunk went back to the base to see what he could do while waiting for a DNA sample and Lance and Keith tailed Axca and Ezor.

When they were splitting up Keith demanded that they followed Axca and Ezor to make sure they didn’t upload the footage or double cross them. Axca only agreed if they rode separately. She stated that they were going to have to move anyway, so Keith and Lance following them would only be a waste of time for them.

Which resulted in a long awkward drive following a dark car that periodically tried to lose them.

Keith snuck through the red light to catch up to the car, horns honking behind him. “I can’t tell if they’re trying to lose me or not.”

“I don’t know, man. I think if they wanted to lose us they would. They’re probably just messing with us, at least Ezor that is. She seems the type,” Lance said, bracing for the sharp turns and abrupt stops. He’s ridden so much with Keith that he knows what to expect.

Keith hummed, noncommittal.

Their idle chatter died off, only the sounds of traffic and the occasional siren breaking the quiet. The car in front of them no longer tried to pull shit. Probably bored from trying and failing to lose them. The silence hung heavy in the air.

“So, it looks like I’m not going to go missing mysteriously in the next few days.”

“Looks like,” Keith said flicking his eyes to him before flicking back to the road.

Lance fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket. God. It was so awkward. When he was in the hospital they just...held hands? And Keith kissed his hand. Was that something? But nothing happened? Was he waiting until the Galra were taken down? Then Lance almost kissed him in the staff room…

He drummed his fingers against his thigh, glancing at Keith again. He was completely focused on the car ahead of them. He looked at the car. They were close enough he could see the shadows of Ezor and Axca in the front seat.

He is 90% sure they’re not going to try something. It seemed like they were done with the organization. Or at least Axca was.

Ezor turned around in the passenger seat and he’s not sure but he’s pretty sure she held up her fingers in front of her forehead for the ‘loser’ sign.

“Hey,” Lance said, watching how Ezor leaned toward Axca and laughed. “What are you thinking?”

“Me?”

Lance huffed out a laugh. “Do you see anyone else in here?”

“I don’t know, Lance. I don’t know what to think right now,” he said quietly. “I’m glad that we’ve found how to get evidence against the Galra. I’m glad that you’re not going to go into the witness protection program. I’m glad that you’re safe, as much as we can be anyway. But what else am I supposed to feel?”

A muscle in Keith’s jaw jumped and his knuckles whitened from how tight he was holding the steering wheel.

“I’m angry you put yourself in danger in the first place. I’m confused why you did it.” Keith glared at him, eyes sparking. “Why did you do it?”

“I told you,” Lance said. “I would do anything to make sure you are okay.”

“But what does that even mean!”

Keith closed his eyes and took a breath, some frustration leaking out of him with it. “Listen, Lance, for the most part I know what you’re talking about. I understand your weird movie references or memes from the internet because you explain them to me. I don’t understand this. I think I understood before but I don’t anymore.”

“Mullet…” Lance trailed off. Keith’s hands were nearly shaking from where they gripped the steering wheel. Reaching over he grasped a hand, coaxing it off the wheel and into his lap. “I’m sorry. I didn’t really know either. I think I was expecting you to clue me in despite, y’know, not talking to you about it.” He offered a small smile, watching how Keith’s face softened, corner of his mouth tipping up. Encouraged, he stroked over the soft skin of Keith’s palm.

“I think I know what I mean now. You mean a lot to me, Keith. Enough for me to go on a stupid mission that might have put everything we’re working for in jeopardy and say that I would do it over again.” He swallowed, the lump in his throat not going away. “I-uh—“ His heart was beating way too fast.

“Could you pull over first?”

Keith looked at him; eyes squinted in confusion. “No? We have to make sure to stay with Axca and Ezor.”

“Buddy, I don’t think they’re going to betray us. They’re off scot-free and did you see Shiro talk with Axca? I think he essentially offered her—I’m not sure about Ezor—a job in the Nazela sector. I think they’re good.”

Keith’s brows furrowed. “But—“

“Please? I don’t think I can say what I’m going to say while in a low-risk car chase.”

He could see Keith debate the choice in his head. He sighed before bringing the car over to park in a parking lot of a closed shop.

“Okay. Make it quick I don’t want to lose them.”

“I love you.”

Keith blinked at him, stock-still and silent. The light blush that swept up from his neck to the tips of his ears was the only indicator he heard him. Keith’s hands twitched, clenching his fingers and eyes darting to the side, before awkwardly pulling his hand close to himself and rubbing his knuckles with his thumb. “Oh.”

Lance’s face burned and he looked out the front window, rubbing the back of his neck. “You don’t have to say anything. I kinda sprung that on you and it’s not what you were expecting but. Yeah. That was what I meant.”

In his peripheral he saw Keith’s hand reach for the one rubbing his neck, pulling it towards him. Tenderly, he threaded his fingers with his own, skin tones contrasting but fitting so well together. “I’m glad you told me,” his voice quiet, his lips brushed over their joined hands. “I love you too.”

Lance felt something akin to champagne bubbles overfill, filling his entire being. Giddy, he tugged their hands until Keith followed, sliding his free hand into his hair to cup the back of his head. He pressed his forehead against Keith’s, practically giggling. “So, you understand now?”

He more so felt Keith’s smile than saw it. “Yeah, I understand.”


End file.
